1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a substrate transport apparatus which transports a substrate along a transport path running through chambers, and a method for manufacturing a magnetic recording medium.
2. Description of the Related Art
Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 2008-027572 discloses a disk processing system. A substrate for, for example, a magnetic disk enters the system through a loading zone and is mounted in a carrier. The substrate in the carrier continuously moves through processing chambers at one level, and then moves to another level by a lift or elevator. After that, the substrate continuously moves through the system at the other level and is output in an unloading zone.
It is demanded to further improve the throughput and productivity of a substrate processing system which transports and processes a substrate for, for example, a magnetic disk, thereby manufacturing products in large quantities, as described in Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 2008-027572. This requires shortening the processing time (takt time) in each processing chamber.